11 Bracket Picking Rules To Win Your Office Pool!

The only sports bettor on Forbes recent list of Gambling Gurus, RJ Bell of Pregame.com provides bracket rules that can make a difference in any March Madness office pool.

Las Vegas, NV (3/14/08) Over 12 BILLION dollars is expected to be bet on the 2008 NCAA Menís Basketball Tournament. ďOver 40 million Americans are expected to take part in bracket-style office pools!Ē said RJ Bell of Pregame.com. No gambling event is bigger, and here are the math-backed stats that can help anyone win.

1st round rules: Be very selective picking any team below a #12 seed. #16 seeds are 0 for 92. #15 seeds are 4 for 92. #13 and #14 seeds win less than 18% combined.

Donít be shy about picking upsets with #12 through #9 seeds; give special consideration to picking #12 seeds; they have won 11 of 28 matchups vs. #5 seeds the last seven years. #9 seeds have a strong winning record vs. #8 seeds.

2nd round rules: Advance #1 seeds almost automatically into the 3rd round. #1 seeds win their first two games 87% of the time.

Keep advancing the #12 and #10 seeds you picked to win in Round One. They win almost half the time in Round Two (14 of 29 for #12 seeds; 17 of 35 for #10 seeds).

Seeds lower than #12 DONT win in the 2nd round. Only 6 of 368 teams that have advanced past Round 2 were seeded lower than #12 (less than 2%).

Sweet 16 rules: Advance exactly three #1 seeds into the Elite 8. Thereís no reason to buck the math: nearly 70% of #1 seeds advance into the 4th round (thats a higher percentage than #5 seeds who win a single game)! Advance no team lower than a #11 seed into the Elite 8 - 20 have made it to the Sweet 16, but only 1 has ever advanced.

Elite Eight rules: Advance exactly ONE or TWO #1 seeds to the Final Four. Amazingly, exactly one or two #1 seeds have made the Final Four 19 of the last 23 years. Advance no team lower than a #8 seed to the Final Four. Only 2 of 92 Final Four teams have been seeded lower than #8.

Final Four rules: Advance NO team below a 6th seed to the Championship game. Not a single one has made it in the last 22 years.

Championship game rules: pick a #4 seed or higher to win it all.
For 19 straight years the champion has been a #4 seed or higher!